15 new coronavirus cases confirmed on mainland

New infections of the novel coronavirus on the Chinese mainland were reported to be 15 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 80,793, the National Health Commission released on Thursday.

Of those new infections, eight were reported in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province and also the center of the epidemic.

Six of the new cases were imported from other countries. Of them, three were in Guangdong province, two were reported in Gansu province and the other one was in Henan province.

To date, 85 imported cases have been counted.

As of Wednesday midnight, the commission reported 11 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,169.

Of them, 10 were reported in Hubei province. Another death was in Shaanxi province.

The commission also reported another 33 new suspected cases. On the same day, a total of 1,318 people were discharged from the hospital after recovering.

The commission added that the number of patients in severe condition had been reduced by 235 in the past 24 hours.

It also revealed that 677,243 close contacts had been traced as of Wednesday midnight. Also, 2,206 were discharged from medical observation.

Meanwhile, another 13,701 close contacts are still under medical observation.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have reported a total of 187 confirmed cases, with three deaths in Hong Kong and one death in Taiwan, according to the commission.

In Hubei, the total confirmed cases reached 67,781 by Wednesday midnight. Of them, about three quarters were reported in Wuhan.

The province had seen a total death toll of 3,056, said the commission.

It also reported 1,242 new recovered cases in the province on the same day. A total of 4,180 patients are still in severe condition.